Shooting tied to fight over speed

Elkhart driver confronted; neighbor shot in neck.

Elkhart driver confronted; neighbor shot in neck.

April 15, 2006|YONIKA WILLIS Tribune Staff Writer

ELKHART -- When Kevin Allen heard a loud bang about 8:30 p.m. Thursday, he thought it was a firecracker. But when a buddy of his came running around the corner, yelling for Allen and his wife to call police, Allen knew something was wrong. Police later arrested Cullen Edwards on suspicion of attempted murder. They said an argument had occurred between Edwards and two neighbors that resulted in one of the men being shot near the corner of Middlebury Street and Gladstone Avenue. The shooting, Allen said, stemmed from Edwards allegedly driving too fast. For as long as he can remember, Allen noted, drivers have sped down Gladstone. So when Edwards was observed driving too fast Thursday, Allen said, neighbors went to his house to talk to him about it. "They hollered at him to slow down," said Allen, who lives catty-corner from the site of the shooting. "They got in their car and drove down there, and I guess they traded some words. That's when he took a gun out and shot him." Once he saw the victim, Allen said, he took off his shirt and held it up against the victim's wound. "He had been shot in the neck ... the lower left side, about an inch-and-a-half to two inches from his Adam's apple," Allen said. The victim's name wasn't available Friday, but, police said, he was in stable condition at an area hospital. Allen estimates Edwards was traveling about 50 mph. "I just go real slow down (Gladstone Avenue) because there's a lot of little kids that play down there," Allen said of the residential area. Allen even believes that some of the neighborhood kids might have witnessed the shooting. "As far as a shooting," Allen said, "we've never had anything like that in our neighborhood. "But cars going fast, we need to do something about that. I've seen a little girl get hit by a car about 18 years ago."